For the past ten years DMACC’s In My Boots has been working to raise money for different organizations focused on helping veterans and bringing awareness to the rising issue of veteran suicide. In My Boots was started by Sean Taylor, a professor of psychology at the Boone Campus. Sean served in the Iowa National Guard and served two tours in Afghanistan. While there Sean lost six members of his unit to war, after returning home from his second tour Sean lost about 100 friends to veteran suicide. Sean has made it his goal to bring awareness to veteran suicide and raise money for organizations to help veterans. Sean created DMACC’s In My Boots 5k ruck sack run/walk in 2014 to get the community involved and make people aware of the issue of veteran suicide. DMACC takes pride in being a community college and believes that it is our responsibility to help and thank the community around us.

The In My Boots is a 5k ruck sack run/walk open to people of all ages. All proceeds from sponsors and people who register for the race are given to a project of Sean’s choosing this year it is the Titan Project an organization that sends a group of veterans on camping or fishing trips and gives away scholarships to high school students in honor of veterans who have passed due to suicide. A rucksack is a run done in the military where soldiers carry materials in a backpack.

We ask that participants carry these packs and use nonperishable food items such as cereals, peanut butter, or canned goods. All items will be donated to the local Boone and Ames food pantries. All participants and sponsors of the race will get a coin that was created by a former DMACC student and veteran. It is a silver coin with a kneeling soldier in the middle and twenty-two stars around him. These twenty-two stars represent the twenty-two veterans that die every day in the US to suicide. Race participants will also get a T-shirt upon registration, including the name of all sponsors. The In My Boots run will be on April 20th, 2024, in McHose Park in Boone at 10am. All sponsors and participants are greatly appreciated, and we hope you will join us in making this our biggest year yet.